Bitter Victory
by adirondack
Summary: After their legendary defeat of the Doom Dragon, Mia and company must confront the consequences of the Wise One's last, cruel trick.


_Disclaimer: Much (though not all) of the dialogue has been taken directly from the GBA version of the game. I wrote this story in an attempt to understand the character development that must have occurred during this scene. Thus, I wanted to use the exact words the characters spoke. No copyright infringement was intended, and I'm not profiting from this._

* * *

The dark void flashed a brilliant white, and for a moment, the storm around Mars Lighthouse disappeared and Mia was blind.

Heat shot over her head and the loud _boom_ of an explosion crashed above her. Mia grabbed Ivan's elbow, yanking him with her as she dropped to the ground. Sheba screamed from the force of the blast while Isaac and Felix belatedly called for everyone to get down.

Ears ringing, Mia found herself splayed on the steps of the Aerie. She propped herself up on her elbows and fearfully peered up, her vision slowly filling back in. Had the explosion been another attack? Did her companions need healing?

Ivan tapped her arm, and she turned briefly to see his burned face, his golden hair damp with sweat and hanging over his eyes. _Are you okay?_ he mouthed.

She nodded. _You_? He nodded, then hoisted himself unsteadily onto his feet. He looked exhausted and every bit as young as he was. Garet's enormous figure rose up behind him, providing even more contrast to their respective heights by the pure elation on his face.

He clapped Ivan on the back and let out a few shaky chuckles. "We did it! Oh, bless you, you beautiful elemental stars, we did it!" He beamed. "We beat that old Wise One's miracle good, didn't we?" He let his grin spread wide. Mia felt the relief rush through her shoulders and she laughed. They could laugh now, right? It was over!

Garet, running his fingers through his hair to spike it again, started looking left and right. "Issac? Jenna? Felix?"

He stopped mid-turn. Kraden had risen to his feet as well and was closer to the rest of the group. She had never seen a man his age move with such haste. Piers and Jenna embraced each other and reveled in their victory. Sheba stood close to Felix, whose eyes narrowed slightly as he saw Kraden race toward the party with arms extended as they knelt to examine the body of the Doom Dragon. The reptilian scales evaporated into sparkly dust and fly up into the swirling wind, leaving behind three motionless figures. She squinted. They'd already found Karst and Agatio. _Who…?_

Mia's eyes traveled slowly, as though they were not her own. She saw Isaac take a step back and falter, as though his back leg had lost all feeling. Kraden waved his arms desperately. But no matter how passionate the gesture, trying to hide the truth wouldn't change it. Her heart dropped down into her stomach.

"Jenna! Felix! You mustn't look at them! They're—"

Kraden's words had no effect on Jenna. Sheba grabbed his arm, halting him, and smiled. "What are you talking about, Kraden? They can't hurt us anymore!" Her face aglow, she gestured toward the bodies. "We'll just—"

"It—it _can't_ be!"

Jenna's scream sounded as though it had been torn from her throat, sending Isaac into full collapse clear on the other side of the Aerie. Sheba whirled around, whatever she was about to say lost forever. Felix knelt beside his sister, embracing her. He buried his face in her shoulder and she just sobbed. "How? How…"

 _What happened? Who are they?_ "What is it, Isaac?"

As the answer hit her, Mia's stomach twisted and turned to stone. They'd gone to Felix's parents' house back in Prox. And found it recently uninhabited. And—

"Isaac! I... I know that guy!" Garet's voice cut through from another world. Still cheerful. "That's your dad!" _He doesn't realize…_ Mia raised her hand to her mouth as if that gesture could stop what came next.

Sheba came up beside her and spoke in a faint voice. "Does that mean the others are..?"

"I'll heal Jenna's parents," Breathless, Piers ran over to them. "Quickly, Mia! Tend to Isaac's father."

She had already made it halfway toward her friend and the pale and bloodied body on the ground next to where he knelt. She touched Isaac's shoulder as gently and as quickly as she could before laying her hands on the fallen man's chest. He stood as still as if the air had turned him to ice. _C'mon. Ply_. For Isaac. And for Jenna, whose wails of "Mom…Dad…" were the only sounds that broke the silence.

"If only…if only I'd realized it sooner…" Kraden's leaden voice did nothing to pierce the still silence surrounding them all. Garet, struck dumb, stared mutely at Isaac with his lips parted in horror.

Mia ignored the absence of a life-energy to work with. She ignored the fact that Isaac's father's body felt as cold as the North's fierce breath whirring all around them. She cast the psynergy again and and again: _Ply—Ply Well—Pure Ply—_ while her tears flowed and froze on her cheeks. She did not stop until she had sapped every ounce of psynergy she had left and Isaac's hand settled lightly on her wrist.

She couldn't look at him. Instead, she turned her head only to match Piers' piercing, sorrowful eyes.

"What's the matter, Piers?" Sheba knew. Mia could hear it in the overreaction. "Why did you stop? Jenna's parents need you!"

Piers glanced sidelong at Mia in shared hopelessness. She took a deep, shuddering breath and unsteadily removed her hands from Kyle's chest.

She heard Ivan's sharp intake of breath beside her. "Don't give up, Mia!" His wobbly voice betrayed his tears. "You c-can't! Y-You have to s-save them!"

"It's no use, Ivan." A quiet, dead voice came out of her mouth. "I'm tapped." She wanted to apologize, but she couldn't seem to pass a single word through her dry lips. _I'm so sorry_. _I'm sorry I wasn't better._

As if he knew her thoughts, Piers said, "I am too." Tapped and overwhelmingly sorry. She tried to thank him, but her eyes felt glassy. Piers swallowed. "Even if I weren't, it's just too late…"

Mia could not believe that five minutes ago she had laughed.

When Jenna spoke, any sign of her crying had disappeared. Her words were steady but stiff, as though she had practiced what she was going to say and wanted to hear only one response. "What are you saying? They're not. They can't be."

Piers looked as if his heart had shattered. "That's not what I'm saying, Jenna," he almost pleaded. "I—"

Silence again.

"I finally found them..." Jenna's voice was hard. "I was going to be with them again. For the first time in years."

"Jenna…"

Mia couldn't have imagined the younger, spirited girl speaking so tenderly, so gently as she did right now. "Please," she whispered as she cupped her mother's face in her shaking hands. "It can't be... Mom... Wake up! It's me." Though she smiled, tears once again rolled down her cheeks. "It's Jenna!" She sobbed. "Don't leave me..."

"Jenna," said Kraden gently. "You must prepare yourself for what comes next…" She hiccupped and looked up at him tearfully. "Being transformed into a dragon, fighting in that form. This requires tremendous power."

"What are you saying, Kraden?"

The old scholar spoke as if to a granddaughter, his voice soft and full of sorrow. "In fighting you, your parents were forced to use every last ounce of their energy."

Jenna, at last, sounded as if she believed the scene in front of her. "They don't have the strength to..."

Kraden nodded and spared her finishing. "Even if they had won the battle, they would not have survived." He gripped her shoulders. "You cannot blame yourself." She hugged him tightly. Mia saw Isaac turn away. She could tell Garet had noticed as well. His hands clenched into fists so tightly that first they, then his arms began to shake. Without warning, he bolted down the stairs and shook his fist at the snowy sky.

"You _monster_!" Garet always yelled, but now blind, uncomprehending rage fueled the hoarseness that cut his voice. Tears pricked the corners of Mia's eyes. Garet was all bark and no bite. He never let it get too deep. Until now. " _Why_ did you do this?" he cried helplessly. "Why did you make us fight Jenna's parents?"

Sheba followed suit, her curses uncharacteristically venomous in her rage. "You're no god!" she shrieked. "You're no protector! You're evil!"

"You don't understand the pain you have caused, Wise One," Piers' voice was rough with emotion as he, too, cast his fury into the darkness toward the spirit who had betrayed them. "You have no idea the damage done to a child who learns she has destroyed her own parents!"

"That's enough."

Facing away from them, Issac stood firm as the snow swirled around him. Though no one said anything, Mia knew no one breathed for fear of missing his words.

When they came, they sounded rough, as though the Wise One himself were dragging them out with a piece of wire. "I knew what I was doing the moment I raised my sword." Isaac spoke steadily, but Mia could see his shoulders shake. Suddenly straightening, he turned to them. "We defied the Wise One in order to save the world!"

 _He was pleading,_ Mia realized. Isaac knew. He knew and he made a choice and he thinks everyone must hate him for choosing the world over a loved one.

"Our parents would understand." Despite the pain, Isaac raised his eyes to meet those of their fellow leader, the one person he might place his hopes on to understand an unthinkable situation. "Don't you think so, Felix?"

Felix paused. And slowly, he nodded once.

"You're right," sniffed Jenna. "It hurts," she hiccupped again, then steeled herself. "but it's true. We didn't do this for ourselves. We did it for all of Weyard."

"We still have a chance to save Prox," said Garet bravely, though he snuck a side glance at Isaac. To herself, Mia smiled. His optimism would never die.

"Perhaps," said Sheba, laying a hand on Jenna's shoulder, "Perhaps we can't save your parents, but we _can_ save countless others."

"Kyle and the others saved them, too," added Ivan, pointing out the virtues in others as he always did. "They sacrificed their lives so that we could go on." Jenna nodded at him gratefully, though Mia noted the misery did not quite leave her eyes.

Piers let out a breath. "I never imagined that my actions would help to save the world." He spoke for all of them, Mia knew. She could never have pictured her fathers' teaching her how to be a mage would lead to a black night at the edge of the world.

From the moment Isaac, Garet, and Ivan had knocked on her door in Imil, she had trusted them. It was mostly because of Issac. As they fought their way through Mercury Lighthouse she began to respect him. He was determined. He was thoughtful. He led with responsibility and respect. Everything he had accomplished he had done for others. Looking at him, Mia had no trouble turning from her original duty as Keeper of the Lighthouse.

"Even though lighting the beacon may create wars and strife," she said, "I regret none of this."

To her enormous relief, Isaac finally raised his eyes to meet hers. Though the pain still marked the lines on his face, he gave her a tiny crack of a smile.

Kraden approached Felix. "There's little time left, Felix... Use the Mars Star and light the beacon."

Behind her, Felix stood up and dug the tiny rock out of his pack. Seeing that the final moment of their journey had arrived, Mia tried to feel triumphant. But she discovered she could not dredge up a drop of joy. She couldn't help staring at Isaac again.

If Mia's chest was dull, what did Issac's feel like? If Mia's world had turned upside-down, how could Isaac see straight? To have lived so long thinking his father had died, to have been given the best gift of all—hope—only to lose it to a cruel and vengeful trick? Would lighting the beacon change any of that?

As Felix passed by, she said in a low voice, "If Alex set this all in motion, then he's responsible for this, and I'll never forgive him."

He glanced at her, silent in grief, but approached Isaac instead of the basin. Isaac spoke before Felix could say anything. "Our quest is almost over. I... don't know how I'm going to tell Mom about this." He wiped his nose on his glove. "But sorrow can wait. We've got to light the beacon."

Felix laid one hand on Isaac's shoulder. It occurred to Mia that these two had once played together as children. Children who couldn't even imagine that such an edifice as the Mars Lighthouse existed.

Felix drew his arm back and, with the force of all his years a fugitive, cast the small red stone into the beacon basin. A pillar of light immediately burst skywards, throwing them all to the ground a second time.

Cracks ruptured the tiled floor of the aerie, splitting it into four pieces. A sphere of psynergetic energy rose to take the basin's place, spinning so gracefully it might have been dancing. To Mia it felt as though some unseen force has slid solidly into place.

She smiled. And then, miraculously, she laughed. "The beacon is lit!"


End file.
